


zefron and kickball

by nickybottom



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: F/F, Unruly Hearts Week, also greg is kinda dead in the bway version so RIP greg, i know that this was supposed to be character appreciation and it IS, i love both alyssa and greg and y'all KNOW i gotta do hawkins/dee dee for relationship so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 10:32:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17847767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickybottom/pseuds/nickybottom
Summary: from sitting in the grass to sitting in his car- the story of greg and alyssa.





	zefron and kickball

**Author's Note:**

> for unruly hearts week day 1! my character was alyssa bc I love her and then also I included greg because no one talks about Alyssa's fake boyfriend.  
> find more deets abt unruly hearts week here bc it's baller as HELL: https://unrulysheart.tumblr.com/post/182609753169/the-prom-appreciation-week-unruly-hearts-week

She met Greg when she was seven and they were both on the playground, watching the faster kids play kickball. 

She kind of knew who he was beforehand, but that was their first conversation, the sort that only seven year olds can have.

“Nick kicks that ball really hard.” he said, gently tearing at a piece of grass.

She nodded sagely and asked, “Do you think he can kick it so hard that his foot’ll go flying off?”

“Probably. He’s strong.” he smiled at her, then, and said, “I’m Greg.”

“‘m Alyssa.” and they shook hands, and when the bell rang for them to go to class, they walked together.

It became a sort of routine, sit by the kickball kids and watch them kick, and sometimes cheer for Nick or Kaylee or Shelby. Sometimes Emma Nolan sat by them too, and they’d all talk about if grass could have feelings or if the ball could pop from too many people kicking it.

* * *

She was eight when she brought Greg over for the first time. Mr. Greene looked at him, nodded, and said, “Don’t do anything to my girl,” before going to do whatever he did. Mrs. Greene made them cookies and let them play in her room.

“Are you okay with playing dolls? Mom only ever buys me them, even when I tell her I want a car or a dinosaur or something.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.” he grabbed one of the Barbies. “Can they do karate or something?”

“If we want them to!” she grabbed a Ken doll and put him into a vague “karate” pose and deepening her voice, saying, “Karate Master Barbie, it is I, the evil Ken! And I am ready to fight you!”

“Well, evil Ken, I’m going to beat you up!” Greg triumphantly declared before hitting her Ken doll with his Barbie doll.

Mrs. Greene came back an hour later to two kids whacking each other with dolls, and after a solid reprimand, she left.

Two minutes later, they were hitting each other with Barbie dolls again.

* * *

She was ten and Kaylee asked, “Are you and Greg dating?” and she looked at Greg, who was across the playground talking to one of the boys in their class.

“No? Why would I date Greg? He’s a boy and he’s gross and he has cooties.” she replied, sounding more grossed out with every word. Greg was just her friend!

“Well, Shelby said that Julia told her that Nick heard Greg talking about how he wanted to ask someone out, and you’re the only girl who he hangs out with much, so it’s gotta be you, right?”

“I- I guess? I- uh- I gotta go?” she said, and ran off to hide under a tree.

“Lyssa? You okay?” she looked up minutes later at the familiar voice before looking back down.

“Hey, Greg. ‘m fine, Kaylee said some weird stuff to me.”

“Like what? Was it mean? Because I can go tell Mrs. Winters and she can tell Kaylee that it was mean and then she can get detention or something.”

“No, she said that you liked me?”

“What?”

“You like me? Like, _like like_ me.”

“No? You’re like my best friend, Alyssa. We’re...bros.”

“Who do you like, then?” she asked, trying not to sound accusatory but sounding like it, just a little bit.

He worried his lip for a second before asking, “You swear you won’t tell anyone?”

“Pinky promise.”

“Roger’s really nice to me, and sometimes he sits next to me, and I kinda like him.”

“Roger’s gross. He’s mean to Emma sometimes and said that my hair didn’t look good the other day.” 

“Really? But he’s super nice to me,” he sighed, “but if he’s mean to you I can’t like him.”

She didn’t realize until a year or two later that that was Greg coming out to her.

* * *

She was thirteen, her dad was gone, and she was supposed to be at a sleepover with all the girls on the cheerleading squad. But she’d skipped out, told Shelby that she felt sick, and walked the few blocks down to Greg’s house.

He’d opened the door as soon as she’d knocked, and immediately noticed how red her eyes were. “Are you okay, Lys?”

“My- my dad- he and Mom got into this big argument, and he took the car, and he’s gone. Mom said he was gonna come back, but I don’t think he’s going to this time. He just...he’s gone!” she choked out with a sob, collapsing into his arms.

He was immediately rubbing her back, letting her sob into his chest. “It’ll be fine, I promise. Your dad always comes back, right? He can’t just leave this time. And if he does, it’ll still be okay. Your mom’s nice, she can take care of you. And if she can’t, then you can come live with us! My mom loves you!”

“You’re sure my dad’ll come back?”

“I swear.”

He lied to her for the first time that day. She didn’t resent it, because he wouldn’t have known—none of them could have known until he mailed her mother the divorce papers, but it still hurt.

* * *

She was sixteen when she formulated a plan.

“Hey, Greg. I- uh- I have something to tell you. It’s kinda important.” she’d called him into her car after class, in the few minutes between it and cheerleading practice.

“Is it something with your mom? You can come ov-”

“Not that, today. I- remember when we were ten and you told me that you liked Roger?”

“And it turned out that he was a huge asshole? Yeah, of course.”

“But like, you told me you liked dudes. And I wanted to tell you that- uh- I don’t. Like dudes. At all.” She warily watched his expression as he blinked into realization.

“You’re gay? Alyssa! We can finally be gay partners-in-crime!” he smiled at her, and she breathed for the first time in a century.

“That’s the thing. You aren’t out to your parents, right?”

“Of course not. They’d kill me.”

“And I’m not out to my mom. And she’s been giving me crap for not having a date to homecoming, so…”

“You want to go to HoCo together? Of course!”

“And then if that ‘goes well’ we could just date,” she put air quotes around it, “until college and then things’ll be fine! Neither of us will have to worry about our parents finding out about anything!”

“That’s...that’s really smart. Jesus, Alyssa, why couldn’t you have come up with this years ago?”

She thought about Emma Nolan’s blonde hair and her guitar, and the crisis she’d only just had, though she’d been having it for an eternity. “I only just thought of it. Sorry, _Gregory_.”

“You should be! But, yeah, Alyssa. I’ll be your beard until the end of high school.”

* * *

“I’m dating Emma Nolan.”

“From our chem class?”

“Yeah...she’s sweet, and she cares about me, and she’s really cute, and I-”

“Say no more. Do you need me to talk to her?”

“Nah. Actually, I- uh- can we keep fake dating? I need a cover for my mom, y’know?”

“Of course, my darling fake-girlfriend. Just let me know if I need to run Emma Nolan over with my car.”

“You won’t have to do that, fake-boyfriend!”

“But keep it in mind. I’d do it for you any day.”

* * *

“No more fake guy dates!” she cheered to Emma in the band closet. Yeah, she loved Greg in a platonic way, but being able to not lie to her mom would be nice.

“Thank God,” Emma said, sitting down.

“Oh, please,” she smiled, trying to figure out how to phrase it properly, “Greg is so _obviously_ gay. All we do is sit in his car and talk about Zac Efron!”

**Author's Note:**

> also follow me on tumblr @trentoliver if you wanna see me get on my bs more!


End file.
